Myself, my brother Aidan and good friend John Mc Cusker have decided to take on the toughest challenge the magical Mourne mountains have to offer to raise funds for Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh after they lost out in the latest funding round from the DUP led Department of Education.

This decision was taken despite the school being based in an area of huge social need and meeting the threshold for applicants. It directly threatens the growth of Irish language medium education moving forward.

This epic challenge will see me hike along the entire mourne wall which stretches over 22 miles and crosses 15 mountains including six of the seven highest peaks over some of the most relentless terrain Ireland has to offer.

Pilib Mistéil, head teacher at Irish medium school Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh, says the cut means the school's 'feeder' playgroup for three-year-olds will have to operate on half its annual budget at a time when demand for entry to the Ballymurphy school has doubled.

"We have 24 children on our rolls this year with a budget of around £60,000," Pilib told belfastmedia.com. "But for the upcoming year, we actually had interest from 46 families and were looking at ways to double our capacity. To lose £30,000 in the middle of that is simply appalling."

Any donation will help the school meet the educational needs of our community and will be greatly appreciated. We have two children who were lucky enough to have availed of these services and it was the best decision we ever made!

Let's show them the Irish language will continue to grow despite any attempt to curtail it! The only direction of travel is onwards and upwards!

I have never been described as an athlete so wish me luck! 😂 All donations welcome, please share far and wide!!!

GRMA
MICHAEL. X